Baker’s Big Year Keeps Getting Bigger

08 Dec, 2017

Baker Mayfield is The Associated Press college football Player of the Year, becoming the fourth Oklahoma quarterback to win the award since it was established in 1998.

Mayfield easily outpointed Stanford running back Bryce Love, who came in second. Louisville quarterback Lamar Jackson, the other finalist and last year’s Heisman Trophy winner, was third in the award announced Thursday.

Mayfield received 51 first-place votes from the 56 AP college football poll voters who submitted player of the year ballots, and a total of 157 points. Love (83 points) and Jackson (39 points) each received two first-place votes and Penn State running Saquon Barkley received a first-place vote and came in fourth.

Mayfield, Love and Jackson are also the finalists for the Heisman, which will be handed out Saturday night in New York.

Mayfield is a former walk-on who has led the No. 2 Sooners to the College Football Playoff, where they will play No. 3 Georgia in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1. Mayfield leads the nation in passer efficiency rating and has thrown for 4,340 yards and 41 touchdowns.

He joins Josh Heupel (2000), Jason White (2003) and Sam Bradford (2008) as previous winners from Oklahoma. No other school has had more than two players win AP Player of the Year.

“I’m on this awards trip right now with a lot of great players from OU and other schools, and every one of them deserves to be recognized. To receive this award is an honor and it’s something just a few years ago I never thought would happen,” Mayfield said. “Obviously, I’m very happy and thankful that I’m being recognized with this.”

Mayfield played high school football in Austin, Texas, but did not receive a scholarship offer from the Longhorns. He was at Texas Tech, and played as a freshman, but ended up transferring to Oklahoma. With the Sooners, he has become a three-year starter and one of the most productive passers in college football history.

He has 129 career touchdown passes and 14,320 yards.

Mayfield also won the Walter Camp and Maxwell Award as player of the year as well as the Davey O’Brien Award as the top quarterback. Those three awards were presented to him Thursday night at ESPN’s college football awards show in Atlanta.